Armor-piercing projectile.



Be itrln'iownthat wegAllExANDER GLMC- KNNAv Sand {WIILIM -'D Af1'fro1r, f citizens of th" V'l'lfiit'ed States, Vresiding. at Washington,

. certfaln'V ifievv" Land? useful 'Improvements in hereby? declare the following to bev a full,Y clear, fand@ exactlfdescription" of the same,- lien'taken in connection'with' the accompassage of the body of the projectile through resistantprotective armor and are commonly jniade of vmetal which is tough but soft or y, ductile as compared with the projectile itself .or the nose of the projectile, although it has been proposed to form such caps with a hardened striking portion integral with the body of the cap. Practical experience and u. tests rshow that the armor piercing qualities are enhanced by hardening the nose or strik- ?in'g portion of the cap and the present invention is designed not only to still further enhance the armor piercing qualities of the projectile, but to provide a structure which can be conveniently and easily manufactured and which will embody a uniformity in :structural characteristics not practically at-V .t'ainable whenv an integral metal cap is made part hard and part softas in the prior caps ,L referred to. ,Y Incarryingthe invention into practice, he capwhich may have any approved con. 'tourlines is builtup of separate sections exp tending transversely of the axis of the cap, the several sections `being of different dergrees of hardness. The meeting or mating `portions of Y the several sections are so formed or the' sections are so connected that A'premature relative displacement will not j occur even under oblique impact at any angle A 4where'the'projectile could be effective and in fthe preferred construction the hardness of the sections increases progressively toward theno'se orstriking part of the cap. In the accompanying drawings:

j Figure 1 is a section longitudinally of a cap embodying the present invention, the

` Y i vAmvroR-rImteINef.raogrrz'crinn 'Specification' of Letters Ifatent. j Appncatiqn mea June 112.1917..,seria1Ne.174,a47.

District ofColumbia, have invented' l v Y A piercing projectile isindicated atA andthe Ar'lnrBierci-ngf*Proj'ectiles; land we dol 7* Vpanying Y drai 1 v ings` forming part.` off this- Prjetle's anpcfcally will@ Part Qf such; projectiles vdesignatedas theY cap. '-ClapsgfY for `such projectiles Vserve to facilitate'the-- ANDWILLIAM n'AitmoN,` or wAsmNG'romnIsrnrcr or; eonunmng'fnssmnons To WASHINGTON STEEL, a onDNANcEf COMPANY, or DISTRICT F COLUMBIA, A. CORBORATION-OF VIRGINIA. v

Patented Apri 29, 19.19.

front end of the body of' the projectile being showninoutline. f

"FigiI 2 isa similarV view showing ay modi,`

The front endv of the body'- ofafnarmor several sections of the :caparegshown-insecs tion/at- B, C andl D,zrespectivelj'f.` The contourlines ofboth the body'off the projeci tile and of vthecapadopted for illustrating the invention are conventional and in, prac v tice will conform to regulationnor .preferred contour lines which, as iswell understood'in the art, is subject to variation andvv depends Vinia measure upon 'the'designediuse ofthe projectile.

The several sections B, C, D are superposed one upon the other longitudinally of the axis of the projectile and each therefore extends transversely of the axis. Their meeting or mating faces are preferably so formed that harmful relative lateral displacement will not occur prematurely even under force created by oblique impact at any angle where the projectile could be elfective and this result is best attained by making the said faces conical or tapering in a for'- wardly direction as shown at b, o. To still further guard against such displacement it is preferred that the degree of taper shall increase toward the front or striking end of the cap, thus the meeting faces of the sections C and D form, as shown at o, a rather sharp cone while the proximate faces o f the sections B and Coform a rather blunt cone. In other words, the radius of the angle de- Y creased toward the front of the cap.

The several sections may be normally held in proper relative positionv in a variety of ways, two only of which are illustrated. In Fig. 1 the peripheral edges of the meeting faces are joined by an electric welding prooess as indicated at F, while in Fig. 2 screw threaded projections and cooperating sockets are formed axially of the sections as indicated at G.

With the present construction each section maybe formed of metal having the desired characteristics or the metal olf each section may be separately treated to give it the desired characteristics as to hardness, toughness, etc., without affectin the characteristics of the other sections. ach

Y Y believed. to be due5 Y successive action ofv theYhard noses ofthesection' Y being ,Y 'formed separately V'absolute 'unifornitvin results Vcan Y In the preferred construction the degree, of `hardness of the severalsectfions increases Y progressivelytoward the striking? end or nose,Y the extreme end secton'being comparable in hardness with the Lnose of the body of the projectile While therear section" is comparable in hardness and'toughness With the so-call`edlsot metal caps in coni-V monuse. Y A

The increased eiciency of the proj eotile'is Lin* part', 'at least', Yto the cap and Ybodyv of the "projectile, resulting rst in a partial and then, a complete rupturelofthe armor plate under attackv and atkthe sameYitirne the' advantageous effects off a soft ymetalcap are preserved.` VIn theresults attainedf it `Would. seerrrthat the energy'v storedfin thepzmetal ofv the c ap is 'caused to perform useful WorkY in rupturing the; attacked Varmor instead of being simply ldis-- Y sipated'at themomentzof impact. In this-f; connection itwillfbe noted .fthatthe conicalA be attained.' Y'

' ffaaaonsft proximas 'fass'ftf'Y- tte' tojtions" ofthe' cap tends Yto resist' spreading Y K y of thesections and V.'toYthat extent augments radial inertia-of thev metal fand `isiri accordY i Vwith thatftheoryjof the faction of-'sftmetal The number of transverse sectlons 1n the Ycap may bevaried, three being shown in the fdr'awings', and while the hardness of the'sections f1ncreases progressively -toward the point inthe structure illustrated, it. is vnot Y desired to limit thetinvention to this par- 'Y ticular arrangement.Y

What-lsfcl'almedt-lsf cali faces' decreasing t Capilu -grr Y, Y

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